Going into Year 13 – A Prepared Summer

You’re in Year 12 and looking forward to the summer break to take some time out to relax. Great! You deserve it after all that work.

Unfortunately, during the Summer many students forget that Year 13 studies often rely on an expert knowledge of the Year 12 concepts.

This then becomes a shock when September hits with a change in the pace of learning and focus. Remember that you only have effectively 2 terms of study to get all of the Year 13 concepts mastered. So, time to ‘pick it back up’ in September is very rarely there.

Rehearsal & Remembering

Research carried out by Psychologists Shiffrin and Atkinson in 1968 suggested that the brain learns best by rehearsal. There are two distinct types according to them.

Maintenance rehearsal – which we know as rote learning where information is repeated over and over.
Elaborative rehearsal – where we connect new information to pre-existing long term memories, which they suggest is far more effective for long term learning.

How can the Year 12 student use this?

How do you reinforce the concepts taught in Year 12 to prepare yourself for the pace and relentlessness of Year 13 studies?

Year 12 Concept Mind-Map

Take a sheet of blank A3 paper and make a mind map of the concepts from memory in one colour (say black). Then try to answer questions using all of the information from your mind map.
Utilising mark schemes and examiners’ reports, add information that you do not know in a different colour.
Repeat this process until all of the information you need is on the mind map.

This acts as:

A revision resource that new information in Yr 13 can be added to.
A colour coded revision map, i.e. the information already known in black, does not need to be revised as you already have this in your long-term memory.
Maintenance rehearsal – by looking at the maps to keep your mind focussed for the coming year and ensuring that the knowledge gained in Year 12 is not forgotten.

Revision

Revision is a long-term project and should not be left until the last few months before your exams start.

Chunk Revision

The best way to revise is to ‘Chunk’ your revision into blocks of around 30 minutes. Then having a short break and revising a totally different subject or area.

‘But it’s summer’, I hear you say, ‘I need a break’. Remember, this is maintenance revision of an hour a day, every day which will make a huge amount of difference. And if you really think about it, an hour a day is probably wasted in your day. Take the time to analyse your day and see where you can fit it in!!!!

Your Head Start for Year 13

In conclusion, although this process will initially seem daunting and time consuming, the long-term research driven benefits can only enhance and improve your studies and knowledge base for the coming year. It will also give you a head start for Year 13 preparation and you will already have a set of revision notes for your exams which are much closer than you think. Believe me, the time will fly.

You can always make use of other resources that are available on the internet, or even better, why not enrol on a Justin Craig revision school over the summer?

Good luck with your studies!!!!!!

Caroline Stanton